In early 1969 Vietnam veteran Toby Carter returns to combat right after the war has reached the apex of its intensity. During the year and a half he has been gone, the grunts began referring to the C-130s he flies as "mortar magnets." His new assignment is with a C-130 wing at Clark Air Base, Philippines, where he gets a huge surprise that reveals that his life has changed forever; he just didn't know it.